The 2026 Northern Primary Readers’ Cup

 What does a thylacine ghost, dry-land dog sledding, a marvellous submarine, bus-bullies, and potentially untrustworthy fish have in common?  The 2026 Northern Primary School Readers’ Cup!

On the 28^th of May, 108 excited upper primary students arrived at Hagley Farm School to participate in the 2026 Northern Primary School Readers’ Cup, vying for a chance to have their school’s name added to the trophy.

This year saw a record number of schools involved, with 20 taking part from across the north of the state from as far reaching as Cressy, Exeter, Beaconsfield, Scottsdale, Ringarooma and Flinders Island.

Students began reading the books in Term 1, with this years’ set comprising a wide range of themes and text types.

The five books read by the Readers' Cup teams

Prior to the final each school held their own event with a quiz about the books and time for each team to share a creative piece that demonstrated the message or theme of one of the books.  At school level, 382 students participated this year, with the winning team from each school going on to compete in the Final. 

We began our afternoon with the Extra Challenge - an on-the-spot, 10-minute task based on an additional book.  

Then came the Quiz – a much harder version than the one already experienced at their school event.  The quiz is weighted to be the most important part, with teams needing to show an excellent knowledge of the books.

Longford Primary School working together in the Quiz phase. (Photo credit - Jessica Jackson)

Finally, in front of a large crowd of school staff and families, these amazing teams shared their creative ideas about the book their team had chosen to showcase.  These varied from songs, to dioramas, plays, and PowerPoint presentations.  Our volunteer judges certainly had their work cut out for them!  With 20 performances to share, our teams were each aiming to enlighten us in 3 minutes or less.

Photo caption – Teams sit at the front of the audience with blankets, cushions and snacks, while watching each other on stage (Photo credit - Jessica Marston)

Students had a large and supportive crowd to perform to. (Photo credit – Jessica Marston)

Nerves were faced and the crowd was well and truly entertained, with serious and humorous moments filling the evening.

At the end of the night, we were so pleased to announce Longford Primary School as the winning school for the second year in a row, with new-comers Ringarooma finishing 2nd, and Flinders Island taking out 3rd.  

Our winners! Longford Primary School, holding their CBCA Tas Branch sponsored Petrarch’s Bookshop voucher, a set of the books supplied by the School Libraries team, and the trophy! (Photo credit - Jessica Jackson)

Across the evening, we were able to share some snippets of student feedback, which came from over 160 responses from students involved at school-level.

The following quotes capture the most common answers when students were asked about their favourite part of Readers’ Cup:

“The quiz was really fun and I made a new friend and got closer to the people in my group.”

“Learning to read better and working as a team to create a performance that we all enjoyed.”

“Exploring all the different books and seeing how they are pictured in my head.”

“Reading new books and discovering new authors.”

“Getting to read all the books and that there was such a variety of stories.”

“I loved the Readers Cup because there were lots of twists and turns and it was competitive but not too competitive.  It was really fun and challenging.  Also we had to show teamwork which I loved.”

“Getting on the stage and getting out of my comfort zone.”

“It encouraged me to read more.”

“Honestly, it was just being on a team and reading books with my friends.”

A very big thank you must go to the CBCA Tasmania Branch for generously providing Petrarch’s Bookshop vouchers for all participating schools, and of course, the winner’s prize.

We are so fortunate to have this support from the CBCA Tasmania Branch, willing school staff who go above and beyond, our dedicated volunteer judges, assistance from the School Libraries team, and of course the families involved, all enabling students to have this wonderful opportunity to celebrate books and reading together.

Jessica Marston
Teacher Librarian, Hagley Farm Primary School
Coordinator of the Northern Primary Readers’ Cup

Young Readers Engaging with Books

As the school year draws to a close, this week’s post highlights some of the exciting programs that CBCA Tasmania has promoted and supported throughout 2025 that encourage students to connect and engage with reading through the exploration of great books. 

Young Tasmanian readers have had some amazing opportunities  in 2025 to engage with books in a shared environment. 

Leading up to Book Week in August, 10 groups of Tasmanian students were enrolled in the Book of the Year Shadow Judging program. This program see the students read, review and judge the books that have been shortlisted for the CBCA Book of the Year Awards. This year Tasmania had groups judge Older Readers, Younger Readers, Early Childhood and Picture Book categories. Groups use the same criteria that the adult judges use to review the titles and then vote on which book they consider should be the winner in that year. This year the Shadow Judges (SJ) selected Birdy (Older Readers), Laughter is the Best Ending (Younger Readers), Spiro (Early Childhood) and The Truck Cat (Picture Book). Only Laughter is the Best Ending and The Truck Cat matched the Book of the Year Winners chosen by the Adult Judges. You can read some of reviews written by the Shadow Judges in the Term 4 CBCA Tasmania Newsletter, which will be available shortly on the CBCA Tas website. You can also see some of the creative responses these students posted to the Shadow Judging website (and specific Tasmanian SJ responses linked at the bottom of this blog.

Some examples of St Thomas More's responses
Published on CBCA website (see link at the end of post)

Young readers throughout Tasmania also had the opportunity to be involved in Readers’ Cup competitions throughout 2025. The Readers’ Cup competition is facilitated by different groups with support from CBCA Tasmania. Competitors read a selection of six titles, and then meet to answer quiz questions based on these titles and then perform a creative response to one or more of the titles.

In May, the Northern Primary Readers’ Cup had 17 schools meet and compete. Read all about it in a previous post! 

17 primary teams engage in the Northern Readers' Cup quiz.

In September two teams (another two had to withdraw) competed in the Northern Secondary Readers’ Cup. On December 10 there will be a planning meeting to plan for 2026 Northern Secondary Readers’ Cup. If you would like to attend this meeting, please email tas@cbca.org.au by COB on December 8 for information.

Dodges Ferry winning team

In October the Southern Primary Readers’ Cup returned after a few years recess. Only two schools competed but reportedly had a wonderful time and both have offered to host the 2026 competition. St Therese’s Catholic School hosted and won the creative challenge; Dodges Ferry Primary School won the Quiz and were overall winners.

In November Devonport Readers’ Cup had 10 teams compete at Latrobe. This cup is run by Toast For Kids Charity’s, Steve Martin, with the support of local councils, SEA FM and CBCA Tas. Teams of students from Devonport, Latrobe & Sheffield competed in what was considered to be the best competition in the nine year history of the Cup. SEA FM Radio Quiz Champions – Nixon Street Primary School won the Quiz component, Sheffield District High School the Creative Challenge and Hillcrest Primary School as the overall winners (highest score for quizzes and creative challenge).

Teams presenting their creative challenges

These two programs provide wonderful opportunities for young readers to engage deeply with texts and share a literary experience. They are enabled through the active involvement of teachers and teacher librarians.

Shadow Judging Creative Responses 2025

Hutchins School https://shadowjudging.cbca.org.au/creative-response/henry-w-hutchins-fluff-costume/

St Thomas More’s Catholic School https://shadowjudging.cbca.org.au/?s=St+Thomas+More

 

Felicity Sly 

Retired teacher-librarian and CBCA Tas 2025-2026 committee member

Northern Secondary Readers’ Cup

The Northern Secondary Schools’ Readers’ Cup also celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, with this special report from Jess Marston sharing her first experience in judging this competition. Jessica enjoyed this different secondary perspective rather than organising and participating in the Primary event (check it out here).

The Secondary Readers’ Cup for the North was in Term 3, with four teams competing for the prized trophy.

Hosts, Scotch Oakburn College, were also joined by teams from Newstead Christian School, Launceston Church Grammar School and Queechy High School.

The participants arrived with heads and hearts richer for the wonderful book list provided to them for this year’s event.

These were 2023 CBCA Shortlisted books The Way of Dog – Zana Fraillon and Xavier in the Meantime – Kate Gordon, along with tried and tested classics Stargirl – Jerry Spinelli, The Single Shard – Linda Sue Park, Millie and the Night Heron – Catherine Bateson and The Heaven Shop – Deborah Ellis.  These were all first time reads for me, and I found each to be so full of heart, with characters that will definitely stay with me for a long time.  Added to this impressive list of novels was Drew Daywalt’s delightful picture book The Day the Crayons Quit.

Our teams began the event with quiz rounds to test their recall knowledge of the books, their characters, settings, events and themes.  Questions were given to the participants aloud, with answers arrived at collaboratively within each team.  Quiz rounds were interspersed with Creative Presentations from each team.

This was my first experience with the Secondary Readers’ Cup so I was very eager to see each team’s approach to sharing the deeper messages and understandings they gained from the books.

Co-judge Carol Fuller and I were definitely treated with extremely thoughtful and creative responses that showed empathy, understanding and connection.  With the expectation that teams showcased a minimum of three titles, all teams chose to feature most, if not all, of the books, which we were very impressed with.  

Following the completion of the Quiz, Creative Presentations and a pizza lunch, the results of the 20^th Northern Secondary Readers’ Cup were announced with Newstead Christian School the excited winners.

The winning team…

Newstead Christian School's Creative Performance

I would like to acknowledge the time and effort given by the school staff who support this wonderful expression of learning through literature, and for their part in promoting reading for enjoyment.

Particular thanks must go to host David Morris, Scotch Oakburn College Librarian, for his long-term commitment to the continuation of this important event, Petrarch’s Bookshop for their ongoing support of Readers’ Cup events in Northern Tasmania, and of course the CBCA Tasmanian Branch for their support and sponsorship.

Jess Marston 

Teacher Librarian, Hagley Farm School

Northern Primary Schools’ Readers’ Cup 2023 – a 20th Anniversary

The 20^th anniversary of the Northern Primary Schools’ Readers’ Cup was recently held at Hagley Primary School with teams from 14 participating schools joining together to celebrate reading.

The Northern Primary Readers’ Cup has been running in Launceston for 20 years, and this special anniversary event was kicked off with a brief history presented by Jennie Bales, who first brought the idea to Launceston teacher librarians way back in 2001. She learnt about this wonderful stimulus to encourage reading at a conference in Queensland where it has since grown into a state-wide annual event. The Readers’ Cup has had different iterations in the south, north and northwest of Tasmania for both primary and secondary students. Currently CBCA Tasmania provides book vouchers for participating teams.

A past organiser, Maureen Mann recalls: 

I was involved with Reader's Cup from the beginning in Launceston but mainly in the secondary section as I was then working in high schools. However, along with Judy Moss, and under the auspices of CBCA, we extended the competition to Hobart in about 2008. I travelled down for several years just for Readers Cup meetings to get it going.

Jennie noted how wonderful it was to see such a worthy celebration of reading, literacy and team work continue for two decades due to the dedication and hard work of local organisers, keen teachers in schools and volunteer including judges and support personnel. 

Jill van der Bosch (a previous teacher librarian organiser recalls): 

I think my main memory of Readers' Cup is the enthusiasm it generated, not only among the dedicated readers, but those who would otherwise avoid books and reading at all costs. They all just loved the creative challenge and never ceased to amaze me with their productions. From Grade 3 onward, students would ask, "When can we do that thing?' I'm so glad 'That Thing' continues.

The Tasmanian adaption has unique qualities that combine both a quiz and a creative response to one of the books. The book selection for this event included a mix of new and familiar titles – picture books and novels and in a range of genres. 

The reading list for the 2023 Northern Primary Readers Cup

The Northern Primary event has evolved into a community affair commencing after school with the quiz, the ‘extra challenge’ followed by fuel for the brain (a BBQ this year),  then the performances in the early evening with keen families arriving from across Launceston and its surrounds. The creative response requires each team to present their ‘take’ on one of the books – for example as a play, short film, PowerPoint, dance, diorama or other artistic form. This element adds immensely to the enjoyment and ambience of the evening with a large and enthusiastic audience made up parents, teachers and classmates.

Judges, families, staff and students watch the Creative Challenge performances

The introduction of the ‘extra challenge’ some years ago added a new dimension, with a week’s notice to read an extra book, each team responds to a surprise challenge completed after the quiz. This year the book was Walk of the Whales by Nick Bland.

Work in progress for the Extra Challenge

The most recent coordinator, Jessica Marston, the teacher librarian at Hagley Farm School was the host for this year’s Northern Primary Readers’ Cup event and she writes:

We were very excited to see our 2023 Readers’ Cup return to a live final, after the event was cancelled altogether in 2020, and held virtually in 2021-22. 

Fourteen schools, including Flinders Island District High School via a livestream, saw just under 100 students converge at Hagley Farm School to compete in teams for the prized Cup. 

The buzz in the room was wonderful, as we enjoyed an evening of friendly rivalry through the celebration of children’s literature.  Feedback about the event has been overwhelmingly positive from students, staff and parents.

Participating students also provided some interesting insights via a survey completed after the event which captured some great sentiments:

• I enjoyed getting together with all the other schools and seeing their view and perspective of the books. I also think it was good how you included Flinders Island so they can still participate.
• I loved showing our creative challenge because we worked so hard but I thought that the extra challenge was really fun and such a creative idea. I loved having my family and friends there and the food was awesome.
• I enjoyed seeing all of the other schools out at Hagley and seeing how well everyone did with their creative performances and the quiz working well as a team. I had fun meeting new people and bonding better with my teammates, the food was also so delicious.

Winning team, East Launceston PS, present their Creative Challenge
about The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley.

Congratulations to this years’ winners, East Launceston Primary School, and a very big thank you to the CBCA, Tasmanian Branch for their ongoing support of our event.

Report prepared by Jennie Bales (CBCA Tasmania Social Media Coordinator) and Jess Marston (Teacher Librarian, Hagley Farm School).

Editor's note: The Northern Secondary Readers' Cup will be held in Launceston in September.

Northern Primary Readers' Cup - Celebrating Readers

Schools in and around Launceston have been participating in readers’ cup challenges since 2002. Anne Donnelly shares the highlights and tensions of the recent primary school competition, with the secondary event scheduled for September.

By 4pm, on the 26^th June, Summerdale Primary was buzzing with excitement and tension as fourteen schools from around Northern Tasmania gathered for the 17^th year of competition in the Inter-school Readers’ Cup. It’s a highly successful competition thanks to the hard work of staff at all the participating schools.

The event began with the Extra Challenge, set by Nella Pickup. This year’s book was Ada’s Violin by Susan Hood. The groups had ten minutes to write down the character traits that helped Ava to overcome her challenges and reach her goals. It’s an impromptu challenge which the students and teachers only find out when the judge presents the challenge, although the winning teams read the book beforehand.

After the added excitement of a reporter and photographer (Examiner article), the quiz commences. The students had spent several weeks reading a total of 6 books in preparation for this challenging segment of the event. As always, the quiz questions proved tricky for some but Glen Dhu scored well with 43.5 and Summerdale did a great job, scoring 48 from a possible 54! The books were:

The Legend of Spud Murphy / Eoin Colfer                                              

Parvana / Deborah Ellis                                                         

Help Around the House / Morris Gleitzman

The Last Elephant / Justin D’Ath                                         

Storm Boy / Colin Thiele

Meet Banjo Paterson/ Kristin Weidenbach

There was a short break in the library where students had a light meal which was provided by Kings Meadows High School before we all met in the Community Hall. Parents arrived from 6pm and Nella talked about the work on Ada’s Violin, where four schools, Scotch Oakburn, Glen Dhu, Riverside and Perth had excellent scores of 9.

To a packed house of parents, grandparents, friends and school communities we started the Creative Presentations. It’s always amazing to see the variety and depth of responses that are displayed by the groups when they are given the opportunity to reflect on the issues and emotions of the books that they have been reading. There were a large number of plays but we were also entertained by debates, dance and movies. Parvana and The Legend of Spud Murphy were popular choices for Creative Responses but it was great to see East Launceston recount the life of Banjo Paterson in their performance.

Not surprisingly, Nella and her fellow judges, Patrick Fleming and Marissa King, had a difficult task. Three schools, East Launceston, Invermay and Riverside had perfect scores of 18. After the scores for all three sections were tallied, East Launceston was third, Glen Dhu second and the winners of the perpetual trophy were Summerdale Primary.

This year we were lucky enough to be able to present all the teams with shortlisted books thanks to the generosity of the CBCA Tasmania.

Here are the winners!

Summerdale Primary School Readers' Cup team.

Anne Donnelly
Northern Primary Reader’s Cup Coordinator

The Northern Primary Readers’ Cup has been supported by CBCA Tasmania and the Education Department through the Federal partnership grant. Books and prizes from the Short List & Notable Book Week titles were provided to participating schools.